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(No Mdel.)

G. B. SNOW.

STEAM BELL RINGER.

No. 384,095. PatentedJune 5. 1888.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE B. SNOW, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK.

STEAM BELL-RINGER.

SPECIPICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 384,095, dated J e 1888- Application filcd March 6. 1883. Serial No. 87,275.

shown in my patent of June 11, 1872, a connecting-rod having a round eye at either end for connection with the crank npon the bellyoke and the piston-rod of the engine used as a motor, and in detaching the said pistonrod from its piston,so that it will not be limited in its motion by the stroke of the piston, and so that the connecting-rod and the piston-rod shall be wholly suspended from the crank-pin,

, instead of being upheld by friction induced by packing-rings and stufiing-boxes, as has heretofore been the case.

It also consistsin seating the lower end of the pistonrod npon acntral perforation through the piston, and thns forming an equilibriumvalve, so that the piston immediately upon the completion of its npstroke will drop to the bottom of the cylinder and there remain nntil steam is again admitted to the cylinder.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is an elevation of my device as applied to the bell of a locomotive. Fig. 2 .js a central vertical section of a singlc-actingengin adapted for use as a motor With my present invention, in which a puppetvalve is used for the admission of steam, and the piston and its rod are shown to operate as an eqnilibrinm-valve for facilitating the deseent of the piston. Fig. 3 is a similar section of another form of singleacting steam-engine, also adapted for use in this connection, in which all valves are dispensed With, the piston admitting and exhausting steam from under itself.

In Fig. 1 there is shoWn upon the extremity of the bell-yoke a crank, F, fastened thereupon so as to be on center With and to point toward the cylindenA, as the bell L hangs per (No modal.)

pendicnlarly. In locomotive praotice the ra complete revolution of the latter will not draw the rod D from its sleeve 0. The piston B, contained in the cylinder A, bas such a length of stroke that it reaches the upper end of the oylinder A at or about the ti me that the bell L has swung upward far enough to receive the stroke of its clapper, so that when the crankF has a throw offourinches the piston B will have a stroke of but little more than one inch. The piston-rod D is not attachd to the piston B, but simply bears upon it, and can be drawn npWard within the sleeve 0 as far as the motion of the crank F may carry it. (Sec Fig. 3.)

It will now be seen (withont reference to any particular plan for admitting and releasmg the steam) thatif steam be admitted under the. piston Bit will drive it upward, and bymeans of the connection therewith of thepiston-rod D, connecting rod H, and crank F, it will swing the bell upward until the piston B reaches the upper end of its stroke, when the exhaust shonld open; but as the piston-rod D is detached from its piston the bell will beleft free to continue its upward movement, carrying with it the crank F,connectingrod H, and

-piston-rod D, until its momentnm is spent,

when its gravity will cause it to descend, forcing the piston to the bottom of the cylinder,

scending, in which case one swing of the bell Will be made by the impulse of steam and the resultant momentum, and the other swing by gravity and momentum, and the bell Will give two sounds for each impulse it receives from the steam, and the effect will resemble ordinary hand-ringing,as described in my patent of July 11, 1854; but the position of the crank first described,which is the one set forth in my patent of June 11, 1872, is much preferable.

It is obvions that any singleacting steanp engine in which the piston-rod could be detached from its piston, and which is so arranged that the motions of the steam and exhaust valves are controlled by the piston,can be used as an elementin the combination of parts above described. Such cngineshave been described in previous patents, and other forms Will suggest themselves to the mechanic.

Referringto Fig. 2,the piston-rod Dis shown as having a beveled shoulder,d, near the lower end, With an extension, d, of small diameter projecting beyond the shoulder d. This shoulder seats upon a countersink, 1), at the upper part of a central perforation through the piston B, and the extension d extends through the piston for the purpose of striking and opening the steam-valve V. When the piston B is at the bottom of the cylinder,it encircles the tail of the valve V, but does not touch it, so that the valve can only be opened by contact With the piston-rod D as it is forced downward as the crank F passes center. The piston B is fitted practically steam-tight in the cylinder A, but moves freely, so that it will fall therein by its own gravity. The exhaust is eftected by the piston B passing and uncovering a number of holes, N, in the side of the cylinder,

. which open into an annnular chamber formed by theferrule J ,which encircles the upper part of the cylinder. Relief-passages R provide escape for steam or air from above the piston B into the same annular space from which the passage Eleads to the open air. Steam is admitted through the opening S, which terminates in a chamber in the bottom of the cylinder which contains the valve V, which seats upward and has a tail projecting through a central steam-port into the cylinder.

If the engine shown in Fig. 2 be now connected t0 a bell, as shown in Fig. 1, and steam be applied, the bell will be swung upward by the piston, as before described. The exhaust-ports being uncovered,as the piston reaches the top of the cylinder the steam Will escape, and the current se established will carry the valve V to its scat. The piston rod continuing its upward movement, the equilibrium-valve d b will open, and, a balance of pressure upon the piston being established, the piston will drop to the bottom of the cylinder and remain there until the steamvalve Dis reopened by the descent of thepiston-rod D.

It Will be observed that the friction of the moving parts is here reduced to its least amount,as the piston is free to drop in the cylinder when the steam-pressure leaves it, and the pistonwod is also free to descend in its sleeve. There remains only the friction due to the lateral pressure of thepiston-rod in the sleeve, owing to the obliquity of the connecting-rod and the friction of thejournals at either and of the said rod H.

Referring to Fig. 3, the piston B is madein the form of an inverted cup, having 9. hole, S, through its side near the top, which, when the piston is at the bottom of the cylinder, coincides with the port S in the side of the cylinder. A hole, N, opposite the hole S in the piston similarly coincides With the ex- ,haust-port N when the piston is at the top of the cylinder. The piston B may be prevented from turning and the coincidence of the holes S N With their respective ports S N secured by any one of a variety of expedients. There is shown for this purpose a pin, K, fastened in the cylindenbottom and extending upward inside the piston, which is straddled by two pins, k k, in the lower edge of the piston B. The piston-rod D 'simply bears upon the fiat top of. the piston B without being secured thereto, as shown.

In the operation of this cngine the steam 1s immediately eut ofi as the piston begms to rise, and the work is done entirely by the expansion of the steam included in and under the piston. S0 as the piston descends after exhausting, the exhaust-opemng is at once closed,and the residual steam compressed; but by allowing proper space under the piston the compression Will not be so great as to af fect the operation of the engine, and so little steam is used that the waste is unappreciable.

A piston like the one shown in Fig. 3, With a central striking-pin to open the valve V, Fig. 2, may be adapted, with its pistonrod and long-sleeved cylinder-head to the cylinder shown in Fig. 2, the holes S N being suppressed and the exhaust being eftected by the piston passing the holes N, Fig. 2. If the apparatus is to be operated by steam, the plan shown in Fig. 2, with the equilibriumvalve, insures the escape of the water of condensation, and is preferable on that account; but when compressed air is substituted for steam, as is often the case, very good results are obtained by the more simple plan shown in Fig. 3,or the modification above suggested.

I daim as my invention- 1. In a steam bell-ringer, the combination of a piston-rod operating through a sleeve on a cylinder-head and formed With a beveled shoulder near its lower end, and a piston formed with a countersink for engagement with the beveled shoulder on the piston-rod, the said piston-rod being wholly disconnected from the piston, substantially as described.

2. The combination,with a single-actingengine having its piston and piston-rod separate and capable of independent motion, of a con nectingrod and a crank attached to the yoke of a swinging bell, the said crank and pistongr eater throw than its piston, and seating rod having a greater thr0W than the said pisthereupon to form an equilibrium-valve, subton, subsbantially as described. stantially as described.

3. In a steam bell-ringer, the combinabion V GEORGE B. SNOW. 5 of a piston-m and piston separate and de- Wihnesses:

tached from each other and capable of inde JOHN E. ROBIE,

pendent motion, said piston-m having a CHAS. O. ROIHER. 

